The process of target setting and tracking students’ progress remains an important one. Although the DFE have withdrawn the statutory nature of target setting we will continue to set targets to support improvements in students’ attainment and progress.

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Target Setting

 

Teachers should be clear from the outset about their expectations for individual students at the end of each key stage. To drive school improvement and maximise student outcomes, it is essential to set individual student targets from Year 7 through Year 11 and link them to strategies and interventions that will help students achieve their goals. At St Matthias School, KS2 and CAT assessments are used to identify the most appropriate tiered curriculum for individual pupils. We review the effectiveness of our target setting and student tracking systems as part of our self-evaluation each year. Targets are most powerful when they are used alongside teachers’ own assessment and monitoring of students’ progress to inform what needs to happen in the classroom.

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Targets in Y10 and Y11 will be set based on an expectation that all students make the expected progress by the end of KS4, given their KS2 starting points; and that many students will make greater than expected progress. Attainment will follow from this but will not be the key driver. To ensure our students are succeeding at KS4, we participate in a SISRA Data Collaboration each year allowing us to track progression in each subject compared with all students with the same KS2 Prior Data. All our projected subject targets relating to students’ expected progress will be at least in line with the national estimates recorded in the year the target is set.  In year groups with no official KS2 starting points target grades, we’re utilising the FFT Estimates Service to set appropriate target grades.

Assessment

 

Progress towards student targets will be checked termly in the school tracking exercise.

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The evidence base to be used may include all or some of the following:

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• Test or topic marks/grades/levels

• Classwork books

• Independent study books/marks/grades/levels

• Project work

• Specific responses by students to activities carried out in class.

 

Moderation and validation through work scrutiny is carried out by Line Managers, Heads of Department and the Leadership Team to ensure that assessments are accurate and the data valid.

Tracking

 

From Year 7 to Year 9, this will be in the form of either ‘on track’ (green) or ‘not on track’ (red). This must be based on robust subject specific criteria mapped out within tiered Schemes of Learning.

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At KS4, teachers are expected to use the full range of assessment information available to them in order to accurately predict their final GCSE grade. Subject Leaders will carry out a check of the accuracy of subject predictions following the summer GCSE examinations. 

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Scrutiny of the data will identify individuals and groups of students who are underperforming and require intervention or who are exceeding targets and require challenge. These findings are discussed with SLT and detailed within the Department’s Development Plan.

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